BeltwayBandit

In terms of power consumption lights are the biggest energy hogs on our tanks. You can't really tell what any individual piece of equipment costs unless you take an ammeter to it and measure its actual draw. When I did that on my tank my lights pulled close to 4 amps, my biggest pump was barely an amp.

While its not a fish, I lost a tiger cowrie for over a year. When I was tearing down the tank, I found him in the rockwork, alive and well.

Talk to Byron at BRK. I watched a clown take a chunk out of his hand there this past weekend.

If my memory serves me correctly, Joe's Juice is basically a concentrated kalkwasser solution. Limited doses in the tank should not have an adverse effect. However, I have had more luck containing the occasional aiptasia introduction with peppermint shrimp (if they are compatible with the other tank mates). Just buy several, and you should have one or two that will munch away on the aiptasia, if that is indeed what you have. Here is a reference photo of aiptasia: And the other typical nuisance anemone Majano:

One other neat trick you can do to help hide the PVC, if its not too late. Paint the entire piece with purple primer and let it cure. It will blend in with the corraline algae, once that kicks in, and it will 'weather in' and disappear much quicker. By the way, I love the idea for the return manifold like that. I am designing my next tank and was a bit leery of drilling the bottom of the tank. I just might do something like that for mine. BB

IMO: Salt Creep I had a similar issue with my old tank. I melted out a power strip almost exactly like the one in your picture. The culprit: salt creep. I do have one beef with just about ALL of the manufacturers out there. PUT LONGER CORDS ON YOUR EQUIPMENT! They all have the disclaimer to put drip loops in and to keep the plugs away from the aquarium, but when you only provide a 4 foot cord, it makes it rather difficult to keep the plug away from the aquarium.. My biggest gripe in this respect is the ARO wiring harness for their VHO lights. It has a plastic connector that is unsealed in the back (which allows salt creep to enter in and short out the fixture which in turn melts down the plastic housing and destroys both the harness and the ballast). I spoke with an engineer from ARO and they know about this problem, but haven't done anything to fix it. They were nice enough to replace my ballast and harness. Anyway, enough ranting. I'm glad you caught this before it became a fire.

Just to throw a contrary opinion at you. I am not a fan of running an entire setup on a single pump. I prefer to segregate my systems and have at least 2 independant sources for my main tank. This eliminates a single point of failure for the entire system. For example: My main return pump only circulated water between the tank and sump. I had a secondary closed loop system on its own independent pump. My skimmer had its own dedicated pump. I originally had my system setup with the skimmer being fed from the return pump, but it got to be a hassle trying to tune in the skimmer and maintain the desired flow in the main tank. Each additional item that you run off of a single pump will increase the complexity of 'tuning' the system since any increase or decrease desired in one item will necessitate adjusting all of the other users on the system. My suggestion would be to use three pumps. One as a return pump and 1 add'l (refugium or frag tank) and the second to run your skimmer and the other tank. I would keep the phosphate reactor on its own pump for ease of maintenance and less disruption to other systems when it is taken off line (do you run this 24/7 or periodically?).

This is the only salt I currently use. (Of course I am between tanks at the moment.)

True enough, but isn't it our responsibility (albeit somewhat selfish) to learn as much as we can about the problem? That way, when we do encounter the 'ignorant and uncaring' we can at least attempt to educate them to the serious consequences of poor husbandry.

Here is a very good read on the dangers of invasive species and how we in the aquarium hobby are partly responsible. "Too often, upon realizing that a specimen is poorly suited to their home aquarium, a well-meaning but misguided hobbyist decides that it should be released back into the wild. Although this may seem to some people like a noble thing to do, hopefully the previous examples have shown what a potential disaster this can create. " http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-10/feature/index.php Here is a list of the invasive species established in the everglades (you will recognize several common aquarium fishes): http://www.evergladescisma.org/species/fish.cfm Midas cichlid Amphilophus citrinellus convict cichlid Archocentrus nigrofasciatus oscar Astronotus ocellatus pike killifish Belonesox belizanus Kner bullseye snakehead Channa marulius clown knifefish Chitala ornata butterfly peacock bass Cichla ocellaris black acara Cichlasoma bimaculatum yellowbelly cichlid Cichlasoma salvini Mayan cichlid Cichlasoma urophthalmus walking catfish Clarias batrachus common carp Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758 redstriped eartheater Geophagus surinamensis African jewelfish Hemichromis letourneuxi banded cichlid Heros severus armored catfishes Hoplosternum littorale peacock eel Macrognathus siamensis oriental weatherfish Misgurnus anguillicaudatus Asian swamp eel Monopterus albus (Zuiew, 1793) blue tilapia Oreochromis aureus Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852) lionfish Pterois volitans (Linnaeus, 1758) vermiculated sailfin catfish Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus Orinoco sailfin catfish Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus blackchin tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron melanotheron firemouth cichlid Thorichthys meeki Brind spotted tilapia Tilapia mariae Boulenger croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata variable platyfish Xiphophorus variatus Locally we are all familiar with the Northern Snakehead which has become established in the Potomac river, so it can happen here too.

Oh where to start. My first rule (against 'the rules') is that in an emergency there are no rules. I had a situation where my auto top off failed and dumped ~30 gallons of FW into a 150 gallon system. When I found it the salinity was 1.013. My first move was to dump salt directly into the system (mixed triple strength with tap water) to immediately raise the salinity to ~1.020. My logic was that below this point most of my corals and inverts would die and the fish would be stressed. The stress of a short term change of salinity was by far the lesser of the two evils at the time. I also kept Pomacanthid angels with Tridacnid clams, also a general no no. You just have to watch them and be ready to remove either the fish or the clam if things don't settle down after a week or so. I also ran way too long between water changes at times (although I had much better water quality when I kept on a regular schedule). Thats all I can think of for now.

I'm assuming you have sand as the base? As to what is doing it, it could be any thing that burrows in the sand. Try watching them after the lights go out and it is dark to see what comes out. If you have a red light that will help you see whats going on.

I have seen that article on grounding probes before. My opinion of it hasn' t changed. That article is BUNK because he fails to mention the use of a GFCI in combination with a grounding probe. The protection offered by the COMBINATION of a grounding probe and GFCI is by far the safest solution. What the article conveniently leaves out is that IF you get a stray current from a pump into the water, the grounding probe will send that current to ground, and will trip the GFCI. Without a path to ground, the GFCI will measure no voltage drop across the circuit and will not trip, since the short only raises the potential of the water but there is no current flowing. The GFCI will only trip when that current has a path to ground, in the absence of a grounding probe that path is usually through YOU! Please please please use both a grounding probe and a GFCI to protect yourself. Edit: This topic seems to recurr every once in a while. I went back and reread my response to it the last time it came up. It might be a better description so I'll post it again: Here is some info I found: "Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI or GFI) are special electronic devices to protect people from fatal electric shocks. Note, however, that you can still get a shock. There's an important difference between these devices and circuit breakers or fuses. Breakers and fuses are designed to disconnect power from a circuit when there is too much electrical current flowing. If too much current flows, the wires will overheat and create a fire hazard. Most circuit breakers are 15 or 20 amps, this equals 15,000 or 20,000 milli-amps. The bad news: it can take as little as 10 milli-amps to fatally shock someone. The good news: GFIs are designed to shut-off when it determines that only 5 milli-amps are "missing", presumably it could be shocking someone. " So the GFI monitors flow in vs. flow out on the hot and neutral side of the outlet. If an item is shorted out in an ungrounded tank, the tank will be at a higher potential relative to ground, but no current will be "missing" to the GFI until that tank is grounded by either the aquarist or a probe. In an ungrounded tank the only path back to ground is through the neutral leg of the circuit. In that situation the GFI sees current in = current out. In a grounded tank the shorted device will go to ground somewhere other than the GFI, it will then see current in > current out and trip. (Many of the common culprits are two prong plug items so there is not an alternate path to ground if they short out, other than through you.) So thats my $0.02 worth on this subject. My recommendation is a GFI and a grounding probe. Screw the fish (if it really is an issue to have current flowing through the tank when an item shorts), save the aquarist.

I'll second the Haddoni aggressiveness. I lost at least 1 chromis and a CB Butterfly to my haddoni. (Of course the CB was nipping clams so I wasn't too sad to see him go.) Despite this, I would recommend a Haddoni if you are looking for a carpet anenome, provided that you have the right accommodations for them. They are very fascinating.

I have. Generally, if I special order a fish through the LFS it is one that I want and the only reason that I wouldn't take it is if it is in bad shape. Generally speaking, the LFS that I have worked through has never had a problem with me backing out of a sale when the fish is in poor shape. They will generally keep it a couple of weeks and try to nurse it back to health, if they can then I buy it. If not, they report it as DOA to their wholesaler and get some credit for it. Caveat emptor. That is why you have to check the fish closely before you purchase it. Most of the internet places only guarantee live arrival if I am not mistaken. How is that any different? I know of two that QT new arrivals. I have purchased all of my fish from LFS. I echo the sentiments of some of the other posters, I beleive the ability to see the fish prior to purchase plus the advice from a good LFS is invaluable. Plus, in an emergency I have had two different LFS offer to open after hours to purchase supplies. Can you get that kind of service from your internet company?

Didn't you see that he arrived late. I'm sure that Byron had already been fired by then.

Yes, but I can't remember who it was now.. Check with Lee Sterns or lmeyer. I know they have both attempted to breed them in the past.

Turkey baster. Gently suck them up off of the rock with it, or blast them off and catch them in a dip net. Also, if you place a small piece of rock where it is easily accesible, leave it for a few days and then pick it up there will probably be several stars under/on the rock. Just move the rock, or pick up some of the stars from underneath it.

That probably is a tad heavy on the fish load. One other suggestion, since the tank will be a fowlr order a new harness for the VHO ballast. It currently has a 2 cap harness but the ballast will run up to 4 VHO bulbs. Take the MH moguls off of the reflector and replace with 4 vho. Just my suggestion. 4 lamp harness: http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageA...&ProdID=361

I noticed that on the second coral there was a note stating that they expect to add more corals to the list next year. All the more reason for captive propagation.

No. Two different people posting from different places.

I would also add that cleaner wrasse is not a good specimen due to the damage that their removal does to the reef. Some articles that I have read allege that their removal is detrimental to the overall health of the reef because of the vital cleaning services they provide.

I agree with Davelin. Lets get the list going, then we can combine and create a new sticky in an appropriate forum. BB

Classic. A press release about a study that is filled with more fluff than substance. One red fflag that I did notice was their conclusions are based on computer models rather than identifying an actual physical mechanism to explain the changes. Perhaps the Nature article does a better job of identifying the physical mechanism that is causing the purported shift in precipitation patterns.

That is quite possibly the most succinct and correct description of the AGW alarmists I have seen yet. As far as you not wanting to read any more, I find that to be typical of the alarmists. When challenged with facts that run counter to their beliefs, they usually run away.